I have not yet worked full-time for a for-profit company.
I’m steadily climbing to the mid-point in my professional career, and so far, it’s been a path from museums to schools to non-profits. I sometimes wonder why and how I got started on my work road, though as the child of two public school teachers, perhaps it’s not much of a stretch that I’m a professional out-of-school time youth instructor.
Sometimes I wonder if I would be satisfied working in the corporate world, and if I would even comprehend my role in a company’s profits and shareholders and the bottom line.
One thing I know: I see the bottom line when it comes to thinking about the kids we serve in our OST programs. I “get” who my customers are, and I love the challenge of stretching my grant dollars for maximum impact. I truly believe that youth enrichment opportunities are in fact truly enriching our youth, bolstering their minds, bodies, souls, and hopefully down the road, their wallets..
Our Village
I read this blog today, about the widening gap in opportunities between the haves and have nots, and how it impacts the youth we see in our schools, and of course in OST programs. The resounding message in this article for me is that our society’s kids belong to us all. They are all OUR kids. And we have a responsibility to engage and support and champion our kids whether they are biologically related to us or not at all.
My why is that it takes a village to raise a child, and I choose to be an actively-participating member of my village.
That means I choose to work and volunteer in the not-for-profit world. And I have no regrets. And I have lots of kids.
For breakfast, I had a toasted everything bagel with butter.
Megan Davis is a Program Manager at Techbridge, a program that inspires girls in science and engineering. Megan works on a national collaboration with Girl Scouts of the USA and on the professional development team, to empower troop leaders to bring hands-on engineering design challenges to their scouts. “To whom much is given, much is expected” is the guiding principle of Megan’s (very blessed) life.